A New Food in Turkey

by Christina on July 18, 2012

Ambrosia Cafe, Grand Bazaar, Istanbul

We stopped at a small cafe in the Istanbul Grand Bazaar to recharge with afternoon baklava and tea. I have no idea where it is located in the market*, but there were textile shops around it – not like that narrows things down. The cafe was clearly run by a father and son who were amused by our fragmented Turkish. The baklava were incredibly good which made me glad we ordered two and hadn’t shared. My apple tea was dried apple pieces prepared in a French Press which tasted like rich apple cider after it had steeped.

Green Sour Plums or Yeşil Erik Tavası (Photo bhamsandwich, flickr)

After we finished, the son at the cafe asked if we wanted to try some fruit; we said sure. He gave us a small plate of what looked like green cherries. The fruit was crisp and sour but didn’t have a lot of meat. I wasn’t planning on eating any more but he insisted to try them sprinkled with salt. They were better and a completely different favor with the salt. I noticed that this little green fruit was being sold from street carts throughout the rest of our trip. I looked the fruit up later and they are called green sour plums or Yeşil Erik Tavası. Almost Turkish Recipes recently posted about them.

I really appreciate that the cafe owner offered some of the sour plums to us (for free). It was late May and they were in season. It was a very gracious and friendly gesture, and I appreciate that he wanted to share something fresh and local with us. It was one of many new foods I got to try in Turkey.

*I only took a picture of the cafe because we happened across it while wandering the Grand Bazaar the next day!